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St. Peter, First Pope Comments

Simon Peter or Cephas, the first pope, Prince of the Apostles, and founder, with St. Paul, of the see of Rome.
Peter was a native of Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias, the son of John, and worked, like his brother St. Andrew, as a fisherman on Lake Genesareth. Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus, and Christ called Peter to become adisciple. In Luke is recounted the story that Peter caught so large an amount of fish that he fell down before the feet of ... Continue Reading

121 - 130 of 130 Comments

seang

6 years ago

bless thy lord

Bartholomew Okeke Okwudili.

6 years ago

I love our Lady is my mother i want her to pray for me.

Tom

6 years ago

theirs a couple of errors in the text like (a disciple) and the last word, im pretty sure u mean clock. And im the same with jake im making my confirmation and chose St Peter.

Pierre

6 years ago

This is in response to Mary.
I have read many of St. John of the Cross great writings, especially Dark Night of the Soul and Ascent of Mount Carmel, and I was so inspired and moved and deepened in faith by them. I have also read the writings of St Louis De Montfort (1673-1716 a candidate to become a Doctor of the Church), especially True Devotion to Mary, and being inspired by it, Pope John Paul II consecrated himself to the Holy Virgin Mary (Totus Tuus - Totally Yours). Yes we look for Signs, but in a pious way, and so did all the Popes since Fatima apparitions – Mary echoing Jesus "You know then how to discern the face of the sky, and you can not know the signs of the times?" - and to help Mary, who is engaged in a final and fierce war against the Devil - as also stated by Sister Lucia of Fatima, by St Louis De Montfort, St Vincent Ferrer, and other Saints, and in the Apocalypse - by our simple prayers and devotion, and by exposing the innumerable false apparitions and messages, to save as many souls as possible, and that God will have mercy on the souls who are now, and will be, perishing by escalating persecutions, wars, disasters, famines, pestilences, death… in this passing away world. Pope John Paul II word to the visionaries when they once visited him "… I have been following everything... ask pilgrims to pray for my intentions… take good care of Medjugorje because Medjugorje is the hope for the entire world..." If things have not come close to us as yet, we feel and suffer and pray with each suffering soul on this earth. And In the hope that it may please God that we may be included in the Holy Company of Saints of the Holy Virgin, according to St Louis de Montfort and other Saints writings, and as promised by Our Lady of Medjugorje.

Below are extractions from St Louis de Montfort "True Devotion to Mary":
It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world...The salvation of the world began through Mary and through her it must be accomplished...
Being the way by which Jesus came to us the first time, she will also be the way by which He will come the second time…As she is the dawn which precedes and reveals the Sun of Justice … In the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary has to be known and revealed by the Holy Spirit in order that, through her, Jesus Christ may be known, loved, and served…

In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for his cause...
Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time - even less now than ever - to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others…

These great souls filled with grace and zeal will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God who are raging on all sides. They will be exceptionally Devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Illumined by her light, strengthened by her food, guided by her spirit, supported by her arm, sheltered under her protection, they will fight with one hand and build with the other. They will give battle, overthrowing and crushing heretics and their heresies, schismatics and their schisms, idolaters and their idolatries, sinners and their wickedness… By word and example they will draw all men to a true devotion to her and though this will make many enemies, it will also bring about many victories and much glory to God alone...
Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they will shower down the rain of God's word and of eternal life, seeking the glory of God and the salvation of souls True disciples of Jesus Christ imitating his poverty, his humility, his contempt of the world and his love. They will point out the narrow way to God in pure truth according to the Holy Gospel and not according to the maxims of the world…

God the Holy Spirit entrusted his wondrous gifts to Mary, his faithful spouse, and chose her as the dispenser of all he possesses, so that she distributes all his gifts and graces to whom she wills, as much as she wills, how she wills and when she wills. No heavenly gift is given to men which does not pass through her virginal hands. Such indeed is the will of God, who has decreed that we should have all things through Mary, so that, making herself poor and lowly, and hiding herself in the depths of nothingness during her whole life, she might be enriched, exalted and honored by almighty God...

It is mainly in reference to these last wicked persecutions of the devil, daily increasing until the advent of the reign of Antichrist, that we should understand that first and well known prophecy and curse of God uttered against the serpent in the garden of paradise 'I will place enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; she [or He, referring to Christ, in some manuscripts] will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her [or His, or you will bruise His] heel' (Gen. 3:15) ... Mary's power over the evil spirits will especially shine forth in the latter times, when Satan will lie in wait for her heel, that is, for her humble servants and her poor children whom she will raise to fight against him…

When the Holy Spirit, her spouse, finds Mary in a soul, he hastens there and enters fully into it. He gives himself generously to that soul according to the place it has given to his spouse...
God the Holy Spirit, became fruitful through Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in her and of her that he produced his masterpiece, God-made-man, and that he produces every day until the end of the world the members of the body of this adorable Head. For this reason the more he finds Mary his dear and inseparable spouse in a soul the more powerful and effective he becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul and that soul in Jesus Christ...

When our loving Jesus comes in glory once again to reign upon earth - as he certainly will - he will choose no other way than the Blessed Virgin, by whom he came so surely and so perfectly the first time. The difference between his first and his second coming is that the first was secret and hidden, but the second will be glorious and resplendent. Both are perfect because both are through Mary. Alas, this is a mystery which we cannot understand, "Here let every tongue be silent"… St Louis de Montfort.

Pierre

6 years ago

It is as if the hand of Pope John Paul II himself is in it. The famed apparition site in Bosnia-Hercegovina, that was so dear to Pope John Paul II, has shifted directly into the hands of the Vatican. The apparitions will not be accepted or rejected by local or regional Church officials until they are directed how and when to do so by Rome, officials now report - in one of the larger development in this case since onset of the apparitions. "I can confirm it," states Monsignor Mato Zovkic, vicar general of the Sarajevo archdiocese. Monsignor Zovkic, who is spokesman for the Cardinal of Sarajevo and previously indicated negatively feelings about the site, now tells Spirit Daily that "the situation is that people keep coming to Medjugorje, they feel something nice, and they are reconciled sacramentally. The Vatican seems to be very interested and so this should be respected." Headed by Cardinal Vinko Puljic, the national commission based in Sarajevo was formed after the Vatican took away the authority of discernment from the local bishop, who usually rules on such matters. Now the national commission has also been subjected to higher Church authorities. The vicar emphasized that the national commission no longer plans to take action until it hears direct instructions from the Vatican. "This is our viewpoint," said Zovkic, who is also a professor at the seminary in Sarajevo. Such is a major change in its previous position, which was that the commission would make a determination after the apparitions stopped. "As things are now, yes," the commission will wait for the Vatican, he repeated.

The authority of local ecclesiastic officials has thus shifted from discernment of the apparitions to sacramental and liturgical Administration. Monsignor Zovkic - who himself previously had expressed misgiving about the site - said that "I am looking forward to seeing Medjugorje." He alluded to recent statements by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone - the current secretary of state at the Vatican and as such second only to the Pope - to the effect that the matter necessitated re-examination.
Long considered a rigid intellectual - and feared by those who believed he would quash private revelations - Pope Benedict XVI has thus far taken no such action and instead has hinted at the deep mystical influence of his predecessor. In recalling John Paul II at a memorial Mass last week, in fact, he mentioned the "supernatural" nature of that pontiff ("Among many human and supernatural qualities, he had an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensibility," intoned the Pope), as did John Paul's former aide, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow. "John Paul's spirit felt at Vatican, ex-aide says," stated the headline last week (4/3/08). The question was whether that spirit was also influencing the official take on Medjugorje - which was dear to John Paul II's heart (and in danger of condemnation).

In Vecernji List, when asked if the Bishops Conference for Bosnia-Hercegovina was going to re-examine Medjugorje - in light of statements by Cardinal Bertone that such was in order, Cardinal Puljic, as archbishop of Sarajevo, was quoted as saying:"Our conference has not discussed this matter, because the phenomenon of Medjugorje does not come within our competence. At the moment when the Holy See takes the decision and gives a task, we shall think about what to do. This is why it is not necessary to speculate, unless concrete instructions come. After the work of the commission, the [conference] has already decided to accompany the phenomenon pastorally. This is nothing new, but the implementation of the first decision of the conference about the phenomenon Medjugorje."

Similar indications have been given by bishops who have said the late Pope expressed a highly favorable view in private conversation - but did not want to offend the Mostar chancery. Many have compared Medjugorje to historic apparitions such as those at Fatima and Lourdes. It has drawn millions of pilgrims, tens of thousands of priests, and hundreds of bishops and cardinals from around the world. It is regularly quietly monitored by officials from the Vatican. But no one knew what Cardinal Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict - himself thought, with contradicting indications. On the one hand, it was he who rejected the document by Mostar which would have condemned Medjugorje, and the current Pope also who, in a book called The Ratzinger Report, when asked about Medjugorje, dodged a direct answer by saying that in general the multiplication of alleged apparitions seemed like a "sign of the times."
But it appears that once more Pope Benedict has stepped in to halt an unfavorable ruling. Three of the four members of the national commission - which includes the bishop of Mostar - seemed poised to issue a negative discernment when the time came.
Has that now been permanently changed, or only for the time being?

"And I say to you: That you are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

jake

6 years ago

im makin my conformation soon an i have the name peter

J Christian

6 years ago

Saint Rock, er, Saint Peter, are those heavens stilly pouring forth truth after fiery truth as yore; what keys lack these of earthen flesh to seize their hearts and fall to their knees weeping in blazes of kinetic hoary Angelic glories? Oh unobstructed views such as those of Enoch transubstantiating; Jesus transfiguring upwards in luminescent brilliant transparency; Ezekiel roaming within the sapphiric, emeraldic chariot smiling four-wise to & from Yahweh; John welcoming the Throne-sourced springs through his fingers by the Trees of Twelve Leaves...Saint Rock, er, Saint Peter, please rebless, reconsecrate Saint Bernadette Soubirous at first attacked by her bishop, and laugh at this lot who pooh-pooh Mary at Medjugadore...by the Lamb of Holy Knock, by the three crows that flew from the cock, well, make up a more heavenly prayer, and pray it we pray, till all some day we're with you in Yahweh's House to stay, Amen

Mary

6 years ago

David, one thing i know about medge is that their is a strange desire for signs and wonders. St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), is one of the greatest writers on mystical theology in the history of Catholicism, and was made a Doctor of the Church in 1926. His teaching is clear, apparitions and other apparently supernatural phenomena can very definitely occur if a sufficient desire for them is present.

Monsignor Bishop Andrea Gemma is the most senior exorcist in the Vatican and the only offical exorcist in Italy. You would do well to heed his opioion and respect the comission who have already conducted investigations in medge headed by Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican's current commission is ongoing, they will be delivering their findings in the coming year, I suggest you withhold your judgment until those whom the authority has been given (ie. the heads of the Roman Catholic Commission of Faith)from the Holy Sprit to discern such matters.

Pierre

6 years ago

In response to David Lyons -
Do not worry David, Our Lady will fight for her interests, as she did in Lourdes. Our Lady of Medjugorje is the one standing against the Dragon in this final battle, and against all other false apparitions. Just pray the Rosary every day, and read her messages, your faith will be great, and you will understand what is happening, and you will be protected. And pray for the Priests and Bishops who speak about Our Lady in such a way, many of them will make it through the coming tribulations by martyrdom. Read Our Lady of Fatima 3rd Secret.

Pierre

David Lyons

6 years ago

Today I read an article in The Irish Mail about retired Bishop Andrea Gemma who said that Medjugorje is ' a diabolic rip-off ' and 'The whole sham is the work of the devil'.Now I am an ordinary person and far be it for me to contradict a Bishop of the Church but I can say this.A year ago one of the visionaries from Medjugorje can to the small Irish village of Abbeylara on the bequest of the local priest and during mass the sky over the church was filled with strange unknown lights and not only were these lights seen over the church in Abbeylara but they were also seen over every church in the surrounding areas.Some very highly skeptical people I know had a change of heart on seeing this.Could 'false seers', as Bishop Gemma called the visionaries of Medjugorje , organise this?
Yours sincerely,
David Lyons.

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